A new report shows most U.S. Catholics approve of Pope Francis — but his ratings have slipped in the past few years, marked by political divides.

Today’s “growing culture of indifference and individualism” must be countered with prayer and adoration, which inspires solidarity with those in need, Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis is planning to make the longest trip of his papacy in September, visiting Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Singapore, the Vatican press office announced.

Pope Francis took over the catechism classes at St. John Vianney parish on the far eastern edge of Rome to inaugurate his “School of Prayer.”

The 2024 edition of the Vatican yearbook has inserted “Patriarch of the West” as one of the historical titles of the pope.

In the Bible, Jesus never explains suffering, but he reaches out to those who are hurting, heals them and ultimately, on the cross, shares and redeems the suffering of all humanity, Pope Francis said.

Today’s “throwaway culture,” driven by “profit, efficiency and success,” marginalizes people with disabilities and threatens their God-given dignity, Pope Francis said.

Indulgences, however, are a way that the church “as minister of the Redemption” intervenes on behalf of a penitent by using its God-given authority to dispense all the temporal punishments of sin (a plenary indulgence), or a portion of them (a partial indulgence), by the application of the satisfaction won by Christ and the saints.

While intense feelings or drive — passions — are natural, Christians know they must be tamed and channeled toward what is good, Pope Francis said.

The 116 footnotes in the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s declaration on human dignity reflect the fact that most of the content of the 12,700-word text is not new Catholic teaching.